Hey Jamz ty for your reply.
I understand there is something that I do not understand/know. For instance I cannot evaluate with objectivity the value of a ladder (under a tech point of view: I can just evaluate its interface, and under that pov BoB Ladder is a good one). I read between your lines that there is something you dislike in BoB's one, and I do not know exactly why. But this is not the point: let's make a step away for a moment from which ladder it could or should be. Of course if there was an official one, not related to any clan, it would be much better. But given the work and time it needs I didn't dare to propose anybody to do it and sadly I cannot offer any help.
What I can do it's just try and give my opinion. And, if we take away the issue of which ladder and who run it, the core of my observation is that a game without a scoring system and a history of the successes (or fails) of a player lacks of a centre of gravity. All the others are (desired) side effects: a server where you often go is a place where you start meeting and knowing people, chatting, making friends and so on. This is the prerequisite of many other things to come (talks, clans, falling in love, marriages, babies... whatever).
Anomie is our enemy, participation and identity are our goals.
On another hand we should not never take ourselves as the standard. I just try to put myself in the shoes of a teenager that joins AC for the very first time: this is what we should do if we want AC to survive.
I understand there is something that I do not understand/know. For instance I cannot evaluate with objectivity the value of a ladder (under a tech point of view: I can just evaluate its interface, and under that pov BoB Ladder is a good one). I read between your lines that there is something you dislike in BoB's one, and I do not know exactly why. But this is not the point: let's make a step away for a moment from which ladder it could or should be. Of course if there was an official one, not related to any clan, it would be much better. But given the work and time it needs I didn't dare to propose anybody to do it and sadly I cannot offer any help.
What I can do it's just try and give my opinion. And, if we take away the issue of which ladder and who run it, the core of my observation is that a game without a scoring system and a history of the successes (or fails) of a player lacks of a centre of gravity. All the others are (desired) side effects: a server where you often go is a place where you start meeting and knowing people, chatting, making friends and so on. This is the prerequisite of many other things to come (talks, clans, falling in love, marriages, babies... whatever).
Anomie is our enemy, participation and identity are our goals.
On another hand we should not never take ourselves as the standard. I just try to put myself in the shoes of a teenager that joins AC for the very first time: this is what we should do if we want AC to survive.